Monthly Archives for August 2017

What’s the best way to build your companies brand and create fans that are passionate about your products? Cory Fosket and Doug Butcher took a company focused on a single product line and expanded it over the last 13-years into a trusted brand for waterfowl hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Along the way, they’ve learned about the importance of quality and how to step outside the business to plan 3-5 years ahead rather than just grinding it out day-after-day. Listen in to this episode of the Small Business Show to hear the Tanglefree story!

During our discussion today, we get some great tips on creating strong relationships with your customers as well as your overseas suppliers to create a win-win environment where your company and suppliers profit while the customer gets a great value, high quality product.

Cory and Doug spend some time discussing various measures of success and what means the most to each of them, as well as what they are doing to power through obstacles to propel Tanglefree into the future. We also learn about the pros and cons of selling to big-box retailers vs smaller stores and how to manage each different type of relationship. Finally, you’ll learn what to watch out for when developing products in China and how to create long term success with factory owners.

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What’s the best method for naming your Small Business? Go with your instincts, listen to friends and family or use an online tool? Listen to this episode of the Small Business Show for tips to come up with a great name for your business and avoid some common mistakes with the help from our friends at Entrepreneur magazine. We also discuss the power of Taglines to enhance your Small Business name and just how much effort should you put into that killer logo?

Then we’re on to listener questions with a discussion on how to power yourself up so you can best represent your Small Business during the sale process and a quick primer on why Cash is King to keep the gears of your business turning smoothly.

Join us for these topics and more on episode 133 of the Small Business Show!

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Do you know the signs that tell if a person is an Employee, Self-Employed or an Entrepreneur? Join Dave and Shannon for this episode of the Small Business Show to find out!

During today’s episode, we get to spend time dissecting personality types so you can understand who would make a good employee vs. who would make a good business partner. We discuss Do’ers vs delegators and ways to create a Working Agreement to help you find out if you all have what it takes to build a successful partnership.

Communication is key and your hosts speak about methods to keep the dialogue going when their is an inevitable problem with your business partner (Partner Therapy, anyone?). Find out why how much risk and accountability your employees are willing to take starts with YOU, the business owner and just how to get past the Superhero complex that is so common.
We wrap up the show with a discussion about getting-out-of-the-way of your employees so they can do their jobs and grow your business along with the importance of sharing your crazy ideas (business or otherwise) with the right type of people if you expect to get a useful response.
Join us for episode 132 of the Small Business Show and then visit our Small Business Support Group to talk about the show!

What’s the best way to find real value in attending Trade Shows, Conferences and Workshops? Do you sit in the back row and head right back to the hotel after the event? You can probably guess what your Small Business Show co-hosts would say about that. Join us for this episode to discuss maximizing your time at these types of events as Shannon discusses attending eBay Open 2017 in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.

During the eBay discussing, we touch on eBay’s dramatic shift during the last 2-years regarding their attitude towards the Small Business seller community and how your business can benefit from it. We discuss the new eBay Concierge customer service platform, ways to reach eBay’s 171 million buyers and new initiatives like eBay Authenticate, Shop with Images and Direct Shopify Integration to sell your products on eBay. Shannon believes that it’s time for another look at selling on eBay if you’ve been away for a few years.

Dave then jumps in to discuss the critical difference between Motivation and Discipline and how you need both (but maybe discipline more!) to keep yourself successful as you work hard on your systems approach to achieve what you want with your Small Business.

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Could you make the leap from dog walker / poop-picker-upper to creating a software platform for service related Small Businesses? Well, Britt Alwerud did just that, creating the Handlr Business Management suite of tools to help manage your employees or contractors, communicate with customers, generate reports and perhaps most importantly, get paid on time!

Join Dave and Shannon for episode 130 of the Small Business Show and our awesome interview with Britt from Handlr.

During our talk, you’ll hear about how Britt had to hit rock bottom and be told by a client that she was “…not a businesswoman, you’re a dog walker” before she realized she needed to create a software platform to help manage her company so she could become the businesswoman she knew she could be. We jump into a discussion about marketing (cold calling!) and we hear about mistakes (lessons learned) made along the way during the creation of Handlr.

We explore what it takes to find and hire a reputable software developer and what methods Britt and her team are using to expand Handlr to create a complete ecosystem of businesses and customers that can benefit from using the platform.

Wrapping up the interview, we discuss using Asana and SCRUM to keep your tasks moving forward and on time and the importance of advisors and mentors to help bring a product to market.